Residents of Pak Tin Village in Tai Po had quite the fright yesterday when they mistook a metre-long iguana hiding in a gutter for a crocodile.
A villager noticed the creature after a dog named Bobby kept barking at it, reports Apple Daily. Attaboy, Bobby!
After receiving the report, the police arrived on the scene and discovered that it was in fact a fully-grown green iguana weighing five kilograms, which, we suppose, could look like a much larger, scarier reptile in dim lighting.
The poor villagers probably thought they had the next Pui Pui on their hands.
Pui pui, if you recall, is a crocodile that became a local celebrity in 2003 after the authorities spent over half a year trying to capture it from a river in Yuen Long, even calling in a bona fide Australian crocodile dundee to do the job. (He failed.)
The iguana was removed from the gutter and will be taken care of by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.
Iguanas are not native to Hong Kong. It is believed this particular specimen is an abandoned pet.
(By the way, you can actually go see Pui Pui, who’s still alive and well in a tiny tank at the Hong Kong Wetland Park.)
Got a tip? Send it to us at hongkong@coconuts.co.
